It's not quite as easy as just having someone live with you. There are qualifications.
You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.
- You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. See Marital Status , earlier, and Considered Unmarried , later.
- You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
- A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she doesn't have to live with you. See Special rule for parent , later, under Qualifying Person.
For the purposes of the Head of Household filing status, a qualifying person is a child, parent, or relative who meets certain conditions, listed below.
The conditions are stricter than those for claiming a dependent; for example, you might be able to claim a roommate as your dependent, but never as a qualifying person for Head of Household status.
A qualifying child would be:
- Your child (including legally adopted), stepchild, foster child, sibling, half-sibling, step-sibling, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild or niece) AND
- Permanently and totally disabled OR under the age of 19 as of December 31, 2022 (under 24 if a full-time student) and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) AND
- Lived with you for more than half the year AND
- Single (or if the child is married, you'd have to qualify to claim them as a dependent even if you're not going to claim them as such).
A child that is too old to qualify as a child might be able to qualify as a relative for Head of Household.
A qualifying relative would be:
- Your mother or father, if you're qualified to claim them as a dependent (even if you're not claiming them as such) OR
- A relative related by blood, legal adoption, or marriage other than a parent (child, sibling, grandparent, nephew, aunt, step-parent, in-law, etc.) AND lived with you for more than half the year AND that you're able to claim as a dependent (even if you're not claiming them as such).
